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User:Gbrading

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gbrading (talk | contribs) at 12:07, 18 August 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The current Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), not allowing for local Daylight Saving Time (DST) is: 18:09 on Tuesday, 22/10/2024.

If you happened to have stumbled upon this page, I would like to bid you a humble welcome to my small, mostly insignificant corner of the vast Wikipedia Encyclopaedia. I am User Gbrading, Editor (aren't we all), and this page is my office. Or at least, I like to think of it as my office. It’s covered in mahogany wood panelling, has a large, imposing desk made of a similar material, and has walls lined with vast bookshelves in topics from Astronomy and Art to Zoology and Zionists.

I think I am an Exopaedian at heart, because I care most about the verifiable content of this amazing project, although I'll admit that there may be a part of me that is a bit Deletionist, but nevermind. If you want to contact me, to ask either questions or advice (I don't bite :)), please feel free to just leave a nice comment on my talk page. I'll give out delicious free cookies to every good Wikipedian! Anyway, I think I'll now get started talking about what I find most interesting.

Help yourself to the biscuits, cake and tea, and I have just installed the beautiful coffee machine.

My Interests

My main areas of interest are History, Philosophy and Politics, along certain areas of Science, Film and Books. I have a particular obsession with mainly History and Books I'd admit. Just some of the books I adore are, amongst others; The Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22 and Jonathan Livingston Seagull, though there are so many more great novels out there. I also have a great love for certain films, including but not limited to (Dr. Strangelove, Breakfast at Tiffany's, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Brazil. So I hope you have garnered the general gist of my tastes from that interesting but frankly irrelevant premamble to the rest of this section.

Ah, yes Philosophy! That is a worthwhile topic. Philosophy is the only topic you do not study, you just 'do' it. There are no philosophers whom I disapprove of. Some had a few crazy ideas (I'm thinking of Sigmund Freud at this point) and some were overly obsessed with God (Thomas Aquinas, Anselm of Canterbury), and attempted to prove his existence. Some were pillars of intellect (Immanuel Kant (though he led a particularly dull life), Karl Marx, Rene Descartes). A few were probably barking mad (mainly German philosophers; Ludwig Wittgenstein, Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer).

However, I would say that all possessed sheer brilliance. "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it", Voltaire was once quoted as saying. Such witty and memorable remarks are common amongst philosophers. "The word freedom has no meaning" Denis Diderot (an encyclopaedist!) expressed in his book Philosophical Thoughts. I find it extraordinary that there is huge variety of thought and opinion in the study of Philosophy. Across the centuries, there has only been minimal agreement between them, and we are only a couple of inches closer to the (unattainable) solutions than Aristotle, Plato and Socrates were.

Today, I am a Philosophy student at the University of Southampton, and I'm having plenty of time to get in all the reading of every major philsophical work under the Sun. This is currently The Republic, The Nicomachean Ethics and Meditations on the First Philosophy. You should hopefully know their authors already.

So, Philosophy is a favourite of mine. Also Politics. I see myself as a Liberal/Democrat, or both. I also very much like useless Red tape. I have no idea why.

The Desk

The Desk is really a sandbox for upcoming articles and do to lists, and can be found here: /Desk. WikiDefcon Information is delivered by members of the Counter-Vandalism Unit.

Gale warning. (Moderate to high level of vandalism)

5.52 RPM according to EnterpriseyBot14:10, 22 October 2024 (UTC) change